Where an infant fixes their gaze 'could be an early indicator of autism'

An early sign that a child may develop autism could be as simple as noting where they fix their gaze.

Those considered at 'high-risk' of developing a form of the disorder were far more likely to become fixated with a non-social toy when left to their own devices.

When stimulated, children with autistic siblings responded in a similar way to low-risk youngsters. However they spent far longer gazing at a non-social toy when left alone (posed)

Autism is a lifelong developmental disability and part of a spectrum disorder. The main symptoms are difficulties with social interaction, impaired communication skills and unusual thought and behaviour patterns.

Autism is thought to affect one in 100 children in England and those with autistic siblings are 25 times times more likely to develop the condition than those with no family history of autism.

Researchers at the Kennedy
Krieger institute and University of Delaware studied 25 six-month-old
infants in this 'high-risk' group along with 25 of their peers.

The youngsters were placed in a chair with a simple joystick. When they moved it the musical toy was activated and they were given more attention by their caregiver. When actively engaged the children in both groups spent a similar amount of time looking at the person as they did at the toy.

However, the team found that when the babies were not being engaged, those in the high risk group spent far more time gazing at the toy than the caregiver.

Study author Dr Rebecca Landa, said the study showed a subtle early marker for autism.

'This
study shows that there is a particular vulnerability in high-risk
siblings at six months of age,' she said.

'They are not as socially interactive and
engaged on their own as their peers, but still respond typically when
engaged by their caregivers, making for a subtle difference that could
be easily overlooked by both parents and some professionals.'

The study suggests that like older children, infants at high risk of autism may benefit from frequent exposure to simple cause and effect lessons to aid their development.

'Babies in both groups of the study learned the multi-stimuli task to the same degree,' Dr Landa said.

'The high-risk siblings still have the capacity to learn cause and effect as well as their low-risk peers at this young age.'

Dr Gina Gomez de la Cuesta, Action Research Leader at The National Autistic Society was cautiously optimistic about the findings.

She told the Mail Online: 'There has been a lot of research which examines a child's level of joint attention or eye gazing patterns and the potential links to autism.

'This study of siblings is interesting as it shows more problems in initiating joint attention with others than responding to joint attention.

'However, until the children reach an age where diagnosis is possible, it is difficult to say how accurately these behaviours can be used to predict a diagnosis of autism.'